Comprehensive team approach to prevention and treatment of temporal mandibular joint (TMJ) malfunction

The aim of the study was to justify the reasons for the comprehensive team approach to prevention and treatment of TMJ malfunction in students of Tver State Medical Academy. The study group comprised 83 students aged 20 – 29 years. Methods: To detect the occurrence of symptoms of temporal mandibular joint (TMJ) malfunction a survey was carried out using the Hamburg test of the abbreviated survey of TMJ malfunction. The students were divided into three groups: 1 group — Healthy or The control group; 2 group — The risk group with TMJ malfunction probability; 3 group –The group with TMJ malfunction symptoms. The psychodiagnostic method was used to advocate the assumption that TMJ malfunction is a psychosomatic disorder, namely: 1. Modesley test for self-appraisal of anxiety, rigidity and extraversion; 2. The coping strategy (CS) test (analog of Lazarus method) for the coping behavior in stress situations; 3. Beck Scale test for depressive symptomatology; 4. UNA test for neurotic asthenia level. Results: 1) A significant amount of young people (45 % of being surveyed) has TMJ malfunction. 2) The risk group with TMJ malfunction probability makes 33 % of being surveyed. 3) There is no difference of sexual character with young people having TMJ malfunction aged 20 – 29 years. 4) The risk factors of TMJ malfunction in young people are: neurotic asthenia, symptoms of depression and unconstructive emotionally focused coping strategies used to control problem situations. Conclusion: The psychodiagnostic data obtained in this study support the conclusion that there is a risk of development of TMJ malfunction as a psychosomatic disorder and highlight the need for further studies of psychological methods in prevention and treatment of this pathology.